Why it works: Egg and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,340 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Mayonnaise Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks in one direction.
Slowly add the olive oil by drops while continuing to beat the mixture.
Keep beating until the sauce thickens.
Add salt to taste.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Egg + olivetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Their lecithin emulsifies the oil and water, holding the sauce together and making it thick.
- Olive oil
- Forms the fat phase of the emulsion, giving the sauce its rich body and smooth texture.
The step that matters
Adding the oil slowly, drop by drop. Oil added too fast overwhelms the egg yolk's emulsifier, so the droplets cannot be suspended and the sauce splits or stays runny. Adding it gradually while beating lets each droplet be coated and dispersed, producing a stable, thick emulsion.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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